> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# §2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship-fy2023/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:23:57.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:23:57.000Z
- Description: In fiscal year 2023, 69 of the 437 people sentenced under §2L2.2 (16%) received a sentence above the guideline range. 73% were within it. The median prison term was 4.2 months, and 97% pleaded guilty.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturali](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship/) › §2L2.2: FY2023

**In brief:** In fiscal year 2023, 69 of the 437 people sentenced under §2L2.2 (16%) received a sentence above the guideline range. 73% were within it. The median prison term was 4.2 months, and 97% pleaded guilty.

Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 437 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023\. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. It is part of the [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## Sentences Above the Range in Fiscal Year 2023

All 437 people had guideline range information. 69 (16%) were sentenced above the range, 319 (73%) were within it, 40 (9%) were below it without a government request, and 9 (2%) were below it at the government's request.

The year before, fiscal year 2022, 83% of the people under this guideline were within the range. The year after, fiscal year 2024, 75% were within it. The records do not show why the share above the range was 16% in 2023, and they do not identify a cause.

## The Prison Terms

388 of the 437 people (89%) were sentenced to prison. 45 (10%) were sentenced to probation only, with no prison or other confinement.

The median prison term was 4.2 months. A quarter of the people in prison received 8 months or more, and a quarter received 2 months or less. The median for all 64,124 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 was 30 months across every offense. Neither figure measures time actually served.

## Guilty Pleas and Trials

426 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 11 were convicted after a trial. In all federal cases that year, the guilty plea share was also 97%.

People who pleaded guilty and went to prison had a median term of 4.1 months. People convicted at trial and sent to prison had a median term of 7.9 months, and that group has 11 people. Written plea agreements were part of 25% of the guilty pleas, and 75% were straight pleas.

## Other Parts of the Sentence

10 of the 437 people (2%) were subject to a mandatory minimum prison term.

258 people (59%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. 16 people (4%) were fined, and 8 (2%) were ordered to pay restitution.

## What the Guideline Covers

The Guidelines Manual title for §2L2.2 reads "Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use; False Personation or Fraudulent Marriage by Alien to Evade Immigration Law; Fraudulently Acquiring or Improperly Using a United States Passport." The Commission's offense type here is Immigration. A case is counted under its primary guideline, which is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.

89% were in criminal history category I and less than 1% were in category VI. Court-martial records do not record criminal history. This guideline has no close court-martial counterpart in the approved crosswalk, so the post stays with federal numbers.

## All Years Compared

In fiscal year 2022, there were 661 people under §2L2.2 and a median prison term of 3.3 months. In fiscal year 2024, there were 394 people and a median of 4.2 months.

Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 6,602 people were sentenced. 87% went to prison, the median prison term was 3.9 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 76% were within the range. The table lists each year. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 769              | 4 months      | 98%            |
| 2017        | 691              | 4.4 months    | 98%            |
| 2018        | 935              | 4 months      | 98%            |
| 2019        | 962              | 3.5 months    | 99%            |
| 2020        | 642              | 3.4 months    | 98%            |
| 2021        | 582              | 3.5 months    | more than 99%  |
| 2022        | 661              | 3.3 months    | 98%            |
| 2023        | 437              | 4.2 months    | 97%            |
| 2024        | 394              | 4.2 months    | 98%            |
| 2025        | 529              | 3.3 months    | 99%            |

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L2.2 (437), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.

Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30\. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.

### What to Keep in Mind

**No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct.** Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987\. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.

**Federal supervised release.** Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.

**Who decides the sentence, and under what rules.** Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.

**Time periods.** Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.

**How life sentences and "time served" are counted.** In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.

**Mandatory minimum sentences.** Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.

## Related Analysis

- [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship/) (overview)
- [§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship-fy2022/) (previous or next fiscal year)
- [§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship-fy2024/) (previous or next fiscal year)
- [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/)
- [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)

**About the author.** Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts *Where All The Bodies Are Buried* and runs the [Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.